The world’s hunkiest mutant, Hugh Jackman, will be appearing on Twitter this Thursday to please his legion of female fans (myself included).  Jackman will be responding via videos to questions sent to @RealHughJackman or @WolverineMovie in order to promote his latest movie, The Wolverine,  which appears in theaters on July 26.

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Do you remember what life was like before cell phones? Remember keeping lists of important phone numbers or having to make a collect call because you didn’t have coins? It was pretty miserable. Read more

Creative digital agency Code ComputerLove demonstrates the best thing about new media: its ability to reinvent traditional forms of storytelling. The group has remastered the art of comics into a series Vine digital shorts reminiscent of A-Ha’s famous 80’s music video “Take on Me.”

Code ComputerLove’s digital comic is titled “The Last Drop” and comprises of 8 Vines set to play like a serial, animated comic. Each Vine is only 6 seconds long and the Vines start automatically in succession. There’s no sound for now, but future versions could benefit from some sounds or maybe some classic action music.

Visit Code ComputerLove’s web page and click play to set the comic in motion.

Do you get upset when a website constantly asks you if you want to download the app version of the site?

A new xkcd comic tackled the issue (embedded above), showing one of the major problems facing both app creators and app users.

If you want to make sure your site is mobile-friendly without building an app, check out our How To Make Your Page Mobile Friendly post.

If you cannot get enough of Bart’s antics, I have some good news for you. Starting tomorrow, your favorite yellow family will be available on the iPad.

ComiXology has just announced a new deal with Bongo, the publisher of the Simpsons comics, to launch a new branded comics app which will bring the nearly 20 years worth of comics to a new form.

“Our plan is to help Simpsons comics fans to experience the fun of collecting our comics in the digital world the same way they would collect printed comics,” remarked Bill Morrison, Bongo’s head of digital development. “They’ll be able to get current issues, and also discover and collect back issues a few at a time until they build a complete collection.”

The app ships tomorrow, but not all the backlist will be available at launch. But you will find 20 select titles from the archives, including first issues of Bartman, Simpsons Comics, Lisa Comics, and more.

The Nook Color is in many ways an android tablet, but one fo the ways it falls short is with digital comics.  Many of the comics apps support features like directed viewing, and that’s a trick that the Nook Color only learned today.

Barnes & Noble announced today that a newly available update for the NT and NC will allow readers to view the comics panel by panel. This will probably sound familiar to users of ComiXology and affiliated apps on Android and IOS, where the guided view experience has done much to make digital comics readable on small screens. The NT and NC also got a new way to read PDFs; when you switch from portrait to landscape you’ll be able to see 2 pages at a time.

The new feature is being launched alongside 100 new titles from DC Entertainment. Nook Tablet owners are now going to be able to be able to read up on the adventures of Sandman, Superman, Batman, and other characters published by DC. The viewing mode will work on all DC titles, and it’s likely to be added to other titles as time goes on.

You’ll find these new digital graphic novels on both the Nook Tablet as well as the Nook for Android app. If you want to to install the software update immediately can do so with a manual download offered at www.NOOK.com/update.

The eBook app developer iStoryTime has just announced the imminent release of a new 6 part comic book app.

Don Bluth’s Dragon’s Lair Comic revives a popular nearly 30 year video game and brings much of the same humor to a new visual form. The comics app will shortly be available in iTunes. It’s free and comes with 1 free comic. The 5 later comics can be bought from inside the app for $2.

I have to say that I find the comics more interesting for their history than the content. They’re based on a video game which was released in 1983 as Dragon’s Lair. It was released on a laserdisc – not a cartridge, floppy, or tape – a laserdisc. This alone is noteworthy, considering how rare laserdiscs were even when they were on the market. I myself have never seen more than a handful of laserdiscs, and the only player I ever saw belonged to a school.

That game was also re-released for the iPhone back in 2010, so if you like you can alternate reading about the adventures with playing them.

Marvel Comics has released the first issue from its new “ReEvolution” imprint.  Avengers Vs. X-Men Infinite #1 is a print comic that comes to life with an augmented reality component.

Using the Marvel app, readers can scan the print cover to see it pop out, among other things. Aurasma, a company that designs augmented reality and virtual worlds, has designed the AR component. Readers can scan the pages to unlock extra content such as character bios and videos.

The comic book company, which regularly has one of the top grossing iOS comic book apps, is also selling a digital edition of the issue within the Marvel app for $.99. (Print owners get the digital issue for free).

Barnes & Noble announced today that they are taking a leaf from Amazon’s playbook. B&N has just signed its “first direct e-reader channel offering” to carry manga published by Viz Media, one of the leading manga publishers in the US.

Nook Color and Nook Tablet owners can now choose from an extensive collection of titles from Viz Media’s Shojo Beat and Shonen Sunday imprints. This includes over  a hundred volumes from 18 series, and each volume can be bought for $5 to $10. B&N has also promised to add new volumes as well as digital previews weekly.

Now that both B&N and Amazon have an Android tablet which can display color comics, it looks like we’ll start to see real competition between the 2. Amazon launched the Kindle Fire with a number of exclusive titles (including Watchmen, and numerous Marvel titles). Barnes & Noble retaliated by pulling those titles from their store shelves.

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